Being Yourself

Everyone always says "be yourself".  I for one have been wondering what that really means.  You cannot really be anyone but yourself.  Trying to be anyone but yourself never really works too well because you are not and will never be that person.  I hear  it all the time, "be yourself".  How does one "be himself/herself"?  How does one be?  I am going to attempt answer said questions here and now.  Starting with the first question, let's go about this from a purely realistic standpoint, no philosophy involved at all.  Simply act like you normally would without any drastic personality changes.  Now let's add in some philosophy, and go into our next question to help us answer our first question.  How does one "be"? Philosophically the word "be" alludes to the physical existence of something or someone.  Without getting into the nitty-gritty of the subject for better or for worse, the word "be" means knowledge of the existence and consciousness.  Taking that into account when we try to answer how to be ourselves, we realize that everyone else is trying to do the same.  Everyone tries to be themselves, even if you shouldn't have to try.  I'll explain more in my next post.